Power Rangers: The Curse of the Dark Ranger
by CoopCooper
Summary: After an evil wizard resurrects all of the monsters destroyed by Zordon's energy wave, a new team of Power Rangers are called upon to defend the world.
1. Chapter 1

**Power Rangers: The Curse of the Dark Ranger\**

**By Dalton Cooper**

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any of the characters in this fic that have previously been seen or mentioned in the Power Rangers show. I do own, however, all of the characters you haven't heard of before this fic.

**Author's Note: **This is my first shot at a Power Rangers fanfic, so please be gentle. D

"Mr. Scott?"

Jason whirled around to find an unusually tall balding suit flashing a toothy white smile at him. Annoyed that this man interrupted his after-teaching practice (a ritual that only Jason practiced) and by the fact that one of his students blew up in his face earlier, Jason greeted the man with an especially bitter tone. "What do you want?"

The man grinned and held out his palm, which, Jason noticed, was extremely hairy. Not only that, but the hair was a shade of black that he had never seen on a human before. Reluctantly, Jason shook the hand of this man who had already displayed oddness.

"I understand that you used to be a Power Ranger?"

Jason had to force his jaw to stay closed and he tried his best to keep his face from going completely white. Jason coughed, nervously shuffled his feet a bit, and just stared at the man.

Chuckling, the man said, "It's okay. I'm a friend of Zordon."

Jason paused and could feel his eyes become glassy at the mere mention of his former mentor. Zordon's death was still hard on him, as it was for every other person, alien, and Power Ranger that had acquainted with the powerful wizard. "Who are you?"

"Call me," the man put his hand on Jason's shoulder, "Burt."

Jason's mind flooded with curious thoughts. How did this man know Zordon…especially years after the sage's death? How did this man know who Jason was? The most mysterious of all of Jason's endless questions was what was this man's agenda?

After the tall man led Jason out of his dojo, the two disappeared in a brilliant red light.

---

Feeling the mesmerizing cool air of spring against his pale face, Luke Dawsing walked past the city park where he spotted a few thugs picking on a little boy.

"Hey! Leave him alone!" Luke threatened.

Turning to see who was ordering them around, the thugs pushed the little boy to the ground, who then ran off. The biggest thug grinned at Luke. "Well, looks like we've got a new runt to take care of."

Luke's eyes widened as he made a break for it, but the thugs were faster. One grabbed Luke by the back of his shirt and violently yanked him back. The thug trapped Luke in a headlock and roughly whispered in his ear, "Which finger do you value the most?"

Quickly, Luke slammed his elbow into the thug's gut, causing him to loosen his grip on Luke. With amazing grace and flawless footwork, Luke spun around the thug and executed a leg sweep which forced the thug hard onto his back.

Alarmed, the other two thugs jumped Luke and wrestled him to the ground. While one thug pinned down Luke's arms and sat on his chest, the other thug whipped out a switchblade, holding the point against Luke's neck.

"You wanna die, you little bitch?" the thug sitting on Luke asked with a mocking tone in his voice.

Using all the strength in his body, Luke tried to struggle against the thugs, but his attempts at escape were futile.

When Luke realized that he had no chance of forcing the thug off of him, he simply squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the blade that flirted with his throat to pierce through his skin.

Suddenly, the thug cursed and flew off of Luke and the blade quickly left his throat. Opening his eyes, Luke saw a curly haired boy about his age wearing a blue shirt and a blue vest taking a fighting stance against the thug with the knife.

"Why not even the odds?" the boy in blue asked with a slight grin on his face.

"You're going to regret getting into our business!" the thug threatened as he mimicked the boy's fighting stance.

The boy in blue's grin grew into a wide smile. "I really doubt it."

With a roar, the thug charged the boy, knife outstretched. Swiftly, the boy grabbed the thug by the wrist of the hand that was holding the knife. A quick twist forced the thug to drop the blade and the boy quickly followed up with a hard kick to the chest, sending the thug backwards onto his ass. Bewildered, the three thugs ran off, realizing they were no match for the boy.

Chuckling to himself, the boy reached out his hand towards Luke, which Luke graciously took. After one quick pull, Luke was back on his feet.

"My name's Camp," the boy said, his smile unwavering.

"I'm Luke."

After a few seconds of silence, Luke said, "Hey, thanks for---

Camp put up his hand and shook his head to interrupt Luke. "Don't mention it. Those creeps needed to be taught a lesson."

---

Slowly, Jason came to, his head pounding and his body feeling weak. The last thing he could remember was that Burt man leading him to the parking lot, and then, nothing.

The room that the former Red Ranger was in was pitch-black. Instead of panicking, Jason just stood still, trying to regain his strength incase he needed to defend himself against anything.

Suddenly, an extremely bright light flickered on, illuminating the small room, revealing to Jason that he was actually in some sort of cell. Spider webs were in every corner of the room and a large stone door looked like the only way in or out. Other than the aforementioned and the odd light bulb that hung over his head, the cell was bare.

The large door opened, revealing two large lizard-like creatures with full armor on, plus each had a spear in their hands. They didn't seem to notice Jason, or they just didn't care he was there, because they both took positions at each side of the door, staring straight past the former Red Ranger and at a wall.

Following right behind the two armored lizard creatures, was the Burt man that Jason met earlier. Burt smiled at Jason and rubbed his hands together excitedly.

"Where have you taken me, you bastard?!" Jason asked/yelled.

Laughing heavily, Burt's body suddenly became covered in dark black hair and his face change into a slight teal color. His body continued to shape and change until he looked exactly like Rita Repulsa's former henchman…Baboo!

Jason's jaw dropped. "What?! It can't be! Zordon's energy wave killed you!"

Nodding, Baboo began pacing back-and-forth in front of the door. "It is true that Zordon's energy wave killed me and most of my comrades, but the sand that we were diminished to was collected by a powerful wizard named Zeraton. Zeraton was able to revive us, and we now serve him faithfully!"

"I'm going to send you back where you belong, you vampire monkey freak!" Jason charged at Baboo, who was one of the Power Rangers' weaker foes. Baboo, however, didn't try to fight Jason one-on-one because he would obviously lose. Instead, the two armored lizard-creatures armed with spears simultaneously shouldered Jason, making him fall to the ground. The two creatures then put the points of their spears to Jason's throat.

Baboo laughed at Jason's attempt. "Stupid Ranger. When you're de-morphed, you're no match for master Zeraton's Langists! You're lucky the master wants you alive…"

Baboo and the Langists turned and left the cell, leaving Jason in darkness.

---

The next day at school, Luke was sitting in his chair during Algebra II, but he was too busy admiring his crush than to pay attention to what his teacher was saying. Luke had always found it hard to keep his eyes off the beautiful Sarah Favaster due to her gorgeous long brown hair, deep brown eyes, and brilliant smile. Sarah turned around and caught Luke's gaze. Embarrassed, Luke quickly looked away and pretended like he was staring at the floor. He saw Sarah giggle a bit before turning around to face the teacher again.

Blushing, Luke sunk into his chair.

---

After school, Luke and his new found friend, Camp, hung out at the park where they met.

"Hey, have you ever had any problems talking to a girl?" Luke asked as Camp slowly walked across a fence, showing off his amazing balance.

"Yup," Camp continued, "I think you should ask Sarah out."

Luke paused. "Wait! I didn't tell you I liked Sarah."

Camp laughed and hopped off of the fence, landing perfectly on both feet. "It's obvious you have a thing for her. Every time you see her, you get all weird."

"I do not!"

Putting his hand on Luke's shoulder, Camp advised, "Just ask her out, dude. She's right over there." Camp pointed to Sarah, who was sitting with her friend Ann, on a couple of swings.

Luke's face went pale and he tried to hide himself from Sarah's eyes. "Dude, what the hell! She never comes here!"

Camp shrugged. "Fate has a weird way of working things out."

Luke watched as the thug with the knife from the day before approached Sarah and Ann.

The thug held out his pudgy hand to Sarah. "Hello, miss. My name is Rob, and I will be your boyfriend for today!"

Sarah looked down at Rob's hand and palmed it away with her hand. "I don't think so."

Annoyed, Rob grabbed Sarah by her arm. "Listen to me, you little bitch!"

Luke began to run to Sarah's defense, but Camp stopped him. "Just watch, dude."

Sarah pushed Rob away and stomped onto his right foot. Rob groaned in pain as Sarah gave him a punch in the stomach and then slapped him across the face. Luke and Camp laughed as Rob angrily stormed off. However, Luke, Sarah, Camp, Ann, and Rob were suddenly enveloped in red, pink, blue, yellow, and black lights and disappeared.

---

Suddenly, the five teens were at a strange place; where the walls were mostly black with a ton of little lights blinking on them, making them somewhat resemble the sky at night. Control consoles were set up in a circle on a small platform in the middle of the room, and a strange globe was in the middle of the room, standing on a strange black stand.

"Where are we?" Ann asked, looking around the room.

A small red robot with a lightning bolt on his chest and a large saucer-like head approached the five. "Welcome, Rangers!"

" 'Rangers?' " Luke asked, eyeing the robot suspiciously.

"Aiye, yai, yai, yai, yai! I hate picking noobies," the robot said, shaking his large head feverishly.

Rob approached the robot and violently poked him. "What the hell are you?"

The robot swatted Rob's hand away angrily. "I am Alpha 12! And you are the newly chosen Power Rangers!"

The teens' eyes shifted uncomfortably at each other.

"Let me explain the situation to you. An evil wizard known as Zeraton has resurrected evil space aliens that were once defeated with the combined effort of the Power Rangers and my late friend Zordon's energy wave. Zeraton has kidnapped a former Ranger, Jason, and I haven't been able to get a hold of him since his disappearance. The world needs your help to defend it as the Power Rangers using these morphers and these Power Coins." Alpha handed out the morphers and the Power Coins…which were the original Power Coins!

"Years ago, these coins were deemed useless, but Zordon's energy wave had given their Powers back. All you need to do is put the Power Coin in your morpher, raise your morpher up, and summon the name of your specific dinosaur chosen to you."

"This…is stupid," Rob said, leaving the Command Center.

"What?!"

"I agree." Sarah and Ann followed closely behind Rob.

Luke and Camp also followed.

"Oh, no! I wish Zordon was still here…"

---

"Jesus that retarded robot thing is one crazy bastard," Rob commented as they walked through the sandy deserts surrounding Angel Grove.

Luke fingered his morpher as they walked, wondering what kind of powers Alpha was talking about. Maybe he should become a Power Ranger; after all, it would be saving the world…whatever it was.

Suddenly, a group of Langists appeared around the five teens! The Langists hissed and charged at the team.

Sarah gasped. "What are those things?!"

"I don't know, but they don't look too happy!" Ann said as she grabbed Sarah's arm.

Luke watched as the rest of the teens, even Rob, were overcome with fear and their faces went deathly pale as they turned to run away from the lizard monsters. This was his chance to show Sarah that he is brave and worth her while, it was also his chance to prove to everyone that he can be a great leader and wasn't to be taken lightly.

"It's morphin time!"

The other four teens stopped as Luke held his morpher out in front of him, ready to morph into a Power Ranger. "Tyrannosaurus!"

Suddenly, a red suit with a helmet that somewhat resembled the head of a T-Rex appeared on Luke's body. A holstered blaster hung at his hip and a red sword hung on his other hip.

"Whoa!" Camp said, bewildered. "Well, let's go everybody!"

"Mastodon!"

"Pterodactyl!"

"Triceratops!"

"Saber-Tooth Tiger!"

Rob, Sarah, Camp, and Ann all were donned suits of the colors, black, pink, blue, and yellow respectively. Rob's black suit resembled a prehistoric elephant with two tusks on the helmet, Sarah's pink suit had the body of a pterodactyl on the helmet, Camp's blue suit had a few horns on the helmet, and Ann's yellow suit had a helmet that resembled a tiger.

Luke charged at the already charging Langists, without even showing fear. Pulling out his blaster, Luke shot multiple lasers into the Langists, destroying a few in a couple brilliant explosions. One Langist tried to ram into Luke, but Luke swiftly side-stepped it, tripped it, and then stabbed it in the back with his sword.

Camp kicked a Langist in the jaw, causing it to fall into the spear of the Langist behind it, impaling itself. That Langist angrily dropped the spear with his ally on it and charged at Camp, but Camp quickly pulled out his blaster and shot the Langist in the face. Two mother Langists jumped at Camp, but Camp was able to call forth a weapon known as the Power Lance, which was basically a lance with three large points on the end. With one swing, Camp was able to cut the two Langists in half.

Sarah stood back, firing her bow and arrow into the crowd of Langists and picked off a few. One Langist got close to her, but Sarah slammed her bow into its gut, and then roundhouse kicked it to the ground. She then shot the Langist through the chest. Another Langist jump onto Sarah's back and forced her to the ground. "Help!" Luke hurried to Sarah and swung his sword into the Langist, destroying it.

"You okay?"

Sarah gave a thumbs-up.

Ann sliced Langist after Langist with her daggers, destroying at least ten after a few moments. One Langist stabbed at her with his spear, but she quickly ducked and leg swept the Langist to the ground. In the reflection of the Langist's armor, she could see two more running at her from behind. Quickly, she stabbed backwards with her daggers, making contact with both of them.

Rob, however, just watched all the action from afar.

After all of the Langists were defeated, a strange Ranger with a deep black suit, with dark red vein-like energy rushing all over it appeared on top of a rock. A bright red cape hung around his neck as he laughed at the Rangers.

"The worst is to come, Power Rangers! You will all die!" This Ranger, the Dark Ranger, then disappeared.

---

The team went back to the Command Center to celebrate their victory, but Alpha was extremely worried about the Dark Ranger.

"What's wrong, Alpha?" Ann asked.

"The Dark Ranger," Alpha began, "could possibly be Jason! It's very probable that Zeraton brainwashed him and is forcing him to do his dirty work, and in that case, we may not even stand a fighting chance…"


	2. Chapter 2

**Power Rangers: The Curse of the Dark Ranger**

**PART 2**

**By Dalton Cooper**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the concept of Power Rangers nor do I own some of the characters in this story. I do own, however, the characters in this story that haven't previously appeared in the Power Rangers universe.

**Author's Note: **Please review...your thoughts and comments would be very much appreciated.

Sighing heavily, Jason took a seat against the far wall of his cell. He couldn't see anything, but that didn't bother him, as there wasn't anything to look at inside of the cell, anyway.

Surprisingly, the door to his cell opened, and a single Baboo stepped in. The strange alien light bulb that hung off the ceiling switched on and the cell was suddenly filled with an almost blinding brightness. Even more surprisingly, Baboo didn't have a single Langist with him.

Quickly, Jason jumped to his feet and took a fighting stance against the space alien. "What do you want?"

Chuckling slightly, Baboo held out his hairy hand to motion for Jason to relax. "I'm not here to fight you, Jason. I'm simply here to talk."

Reluctantly, Jason dropped his stance and eyed Baboo suspiciously as the simian-vampire hybrid handed Jason a goblet of water. Instead of making his usual cracks against the Rangers and threatening Jason, Baboo simply crossed his arms and stared at the former Red Ranger. "Listen, I didn't put anything in the water, if that's what you're wondering."

After weighing his options of dehydration or drinking the water, Jason decided to take the risky way and gulped down the goblet full of water. He handed the stone goblet back to Baboo, who unexpectedly threw it against the wall in a fit of rage. The goblet broke into two and lay on the ground as Baboo punched the door.

A few seconds of silence lingered in the cell for a moment as Baboo leaned his head against the door, breathing heavily. "Master Zeraton sent Squatt into the field," Baboo finally said, removing his head from the door and facing Jason.

Oddly enough, Jason felt sympathy for the space alien. Jason knew that Baboo would have to of brought him to the moon regardless of whether he wanted to or not. Baboo wasn't the greatest fighter, and he would be totally incapable of defending himself against nearly anything. "Why? Squatt isn't the greatest fighter," Jason said, trying his hardest to show sympathy, but failing at it miserably.

Baboo let out a laugh. "Squatt is a _horrible_ fighter. The Power Rangers will destroy him in seconds! Master Zeraton knows that Squatt won't be able to defend himself…I can't believe he sent him into the field…"

- - -

Rob Motnes laughed drunkenly as he watched his two friends have a race to see who can chug a bottle of vodka faster. Midway through the competition, one of his friends (Rob was too drunk to actually know) dropped the bottle to the ground began puking profusely all over the floor.

Suddenly, Rob's communicator beeped. Stupidly, Rob activated it in front of all the drunken teens. "What's up, robot man?"

All of the other drunks stared at Rob's communicator with their glazed eyes. "Dude…what in God's boat is that?" one of the drunks asked.

"This," Rob said, holding his wrist up, "is a communicator. I am a Super Ranger or something."

"Rob! There is a disturbance in the park! Your friends need you!" Alpha blared (as far as that would go for a little robot) through the communicator.

"Sorry robo-retard, but I still have some shots left!" Rob said, turning off his communicator and grabbing the nearest shot glass. "Who wants go against the king?"

- - -

"Wait a minute," Jason said, pacing his cell, "wouldn't Squatt just revert back to his sand state after the Rangers destroy him?"

"There is a chance of it, but the chances are five-percent. Master Zeraton promised me he would bring Squatt back if he is turned into sand," Baboo explained. Despite the extremely small chance of it, the number gave Baboo hope, and Jason could tell it in his less-depressed voice.

- - -

Luke, Camp, Sarah, and Ann materialized in the park where they found a short, fat, blue monster with a ton of warts, some poorly-crafted armor, and two small tusks coming out of its bottom jaw.

"Oh, no, Rangers!" the monster, Squatt, said, waving his arms wildly.

"What the hell is that thing?" Camp asked, cocking his head as he looked at Squatt.

"Gross!" Sarah commented, taking a step back.

Ann looked at her teammates. "It doesn't look too threatening…"

Suddenly, ten Langists materialized in front of Squatt. "Try to take these on, Rangers!" Squatt said, running to hide behind the nearest tree.

"Where's Rob at?" Ann asked.

Camp shook his head. "We don't need that creep! We can take these things without that so-called 'partner.' "

"It's morphin time!"

"Pterodactyl!"

"Triceratops!

"Saber-Toothed Tiger!"

"Tyrannosaurus!"

Quickly, Luke unsheathed his sword and took a defensive stance against the small crowd of Langists. The front Langist ran at Luke, spear outstretched, but Luke quickly sidestepped and cut the spear in half with his sword. With a quick spin, Luke slashed the Langist in the neck with his sword, destroying it.

The other nine Langists all charged simultaneously, forcing the Rangers to open fire with their blasters into the crowd randomly. They were able to pick off three, leaving six to fight.

One Langist stabbed at Camp, but Camp dodged and tripped the Langist with his Power Lance. Luke then shot the Langist in the back of the head with his blaster, destroying it. Luke and Camp high-fived each other just as two other Langists ran at them, spears outstretched. Luke and Camp ducked just in time and the Langists speared each other.

Two Langists jumped on Sarah, pinning her to the ground. Ann quickly did a flip over the Langists, holding her daggers out and destroying them both. Ann gave Sarah a thumbs-up, not noticing the Langist right behind her. Quickly, Sarah pulled out her bow and shot an arrow straight in the Langist's eye.

The four regrouped. "Now it's your turn, creep!" Camp warned Squatt, who was shaking behind the tree.

Pathetically, Squatt ran to the Rangers, but did not attack them. Instead, Squatt got onto his knees and began begging for mercy. "I don't want to fight you! Master Zeraton sent me here! I'm sorry!"

"Uh…what do we do, Luke?" Sarah asked.

"I…don't know. Alpha never briefed us about how to handle a monster who's pleading for his life," Luke replied, cocking his head at the distraught Squatt.

Stepping forward, Ann put her hand on Squatt's shoulder plate. "It's okay, creature. We won't destroy you."

Camp admired Ann's sympathy for the creature. Secretly, he had a major crush on the Yellow Ranger, but he would never tell anybody, especially Luke (mostly for giving him crap about Sarah). He found her pale features mesmerizing and her personality was amazing.

Without warning, the Dark Ranger materialized behind Squatt, holding two katana-like swords, except these swords were a rusty color with teeth like a saw. Quickly, the Dark Ranger plunged one of the swords through Squatt's back and heart. Suddenly, Squatt dematerialized into the sand form he was reverted to when Zordon's energy wave was spread across the universe. Squatt's sand began whirling around crazily and started a strange small sand twister of sorts. Then, the sand shot into the Dark Ranger's heart…The deep red liquid substance that resembled veins on the Dark Ranger's suit began glowing brightly. Turning his head to the sky, the Dark Ranger held out his arms as an energy wave emitted from his body, knocking the four Power Rangers to the ground.

"He absorbed that monster's energy!" Luke realized, astonished.

Angrily, Ann got up and approached the Dark Ranger, her two daggers ready in her hands. She took a fighting stance. "You're dead!"

"No, Ranger, _you're_ dead," the Dark Ranger said mockingly as he aimed the tip of one of his swords at Ann. Suddenly, a large blast of black energy shot from the sword.

"No!" Camp yelled, pushing Ann out of the way of the blast, but in the process taking it all.

"Camp!" Luke and Sarah yelled simultaneously, running to their fallen friend. Ann just stood there in shock, gawking at the fallen Ranger who had saved her life.

Loudly, the Dark Ranger began laughing at his victory. "You Rangers are useless. I expected more of a challenge."

Frustrated, Luke stood up and aimed his blaster directly at the Dark Ranger. "You'll get your challenge!"

- - -

As Rob passed out on a couch, his communicator began beeping loudly. Rob, however, just simply rolled over.

- - -

Baboo backed away from the globe as he witnessed his friend Squatt's murder at the hands of the Dark Ranger. He turned to his master, Zeraton, who was sitting in an organic chair with black tubes all over it. Zeraton chuckled at Squatt's death.

"Why did you let him do that?!" Baboo asked/demanded.

Turning to face Baboo, Zeraton smiled. "I do not need a worthless baboon, no offense, in my army! I simply sent him to Earth just so my powerful Dark Ranger could absorb his energy."

"You…you…" Baboo charged at Zeraton, who simply held his hand up…reverting Baboo back into sand.

Zeraton turned his attention back the globe that sat in front of him, showing him the situation on Earth between the Rangers and the Dark Ranger. "The Dark Ranger can absorb you later."

- - -

Luke fired his blaster at the Dark Ranger, but the Dark Ranger swiftly blocked the blast with his swords, knocking the blast back at Luke. The blast connected with Luke's chest, sending him a few feet backwards.

"Ann, teleport Camp back to the Command Center. I'll help Luke out here," Sarah ordered, aiming her bow at the Dark Ranger as Luke got back onto his feet.

Nodding, Ann rushed to Camp's side and teleported herself and Camp back to the Command Center in two brilliant flashes of yellow and blue respectively.

Luke shot three blasts at the Dark Ranger, all three connecting him in the chest, but barely fazing him. Swinging his sword wildly, Luke was able to connect a couple of times, before Dark Ranger slashed Luke across the chest, causing Luke's suit to spark and sending Luke to the ground.

The Dark Ranger readied both his blades to end Luke, but Sarah quickly shot Dark Ranger with an arrow, giving Luke enough time to leg sweep the Dark Ranger, bringing him to the ground.

Quickly, Luke jumped to his feet and Sarah rushed to his side. They both aimed their blasters at the Dark Ranger's face, causing a small explosion. When the smoke cleared, the Red and Pink Ranger were both shocked to see that the Dark Ranger had virtually no wounds on him.

Suddenly, the Dark Ranger _floated_ off of the ground and went extremely high into the air. Luke and Sarah looked up at the Dark Ranger, extremely shocked at this surprising new feat.

"I didn't know he could do that!" Luke exclaimed, staring in awe at the Dark Ranger.

Suddenly, two huge blasts of dark energy flew from the Dark Ranger's swords and landed directly in front of Luke and Sarah, creating a massive explosion which sent them flying at least fifty feet. Sarah landed hard, but besides a few scratches, she was fine. Luke's visor, on the other hand, was shattered upon impact.

The Dark Ranger glided to the area where Luke and Sarah had landed. He raised his two swords above Luke, but paused when he saw Luke's face. The Dark Ranger dropped the swords to the ground and his body began shaking violently. He de-morphed and fell to the ground on his back revealing…the boy that Luke saved from the thugs the day before!

Sarah and Luke hurried to the little boy, who was shaking violently and foaming from the mouth. His eyes were a blue color, but with every shake they flashed black, and his height (he was usually a relatively small boy) was varying as he flopped around on the ground.

"Whoa!" Luke proclaimed as he and Sarah stumbled over to the boy. Luke activated his communicator. "Alpha! The Dark Ranger is just a kid! We need to get him back to the Command Center, something's wrong with him!"

Suddenly, the boy, Luke, and Sarah disappeared in a flash of black, red, and pink light respectively.

- - -

Upon arriving at the Command Center, the first thing Luke noticed was Rob leaning against one of the consoles, a sour expression on his face like a spoiled child who was just told no.

Alpha hurried over to the boy with a syringe in his robotic hand. He quickly injected the boy with some sort of purple liquid which made the seizures stop immediately. Ann, meanwhile, was standing at Camp's side, who was lying on a blue sheeted bed positioned against one of the control consoles.

The boy sat up and faced the Rangers and Alpha. "I'm so sorry," he began, tears forming in his eyes. "The man said that I was going to be able to defend myself and repay you," the boy pointed at Luke, "for helping me. He took me to his palace on the moon and shot me with some sort of black thing. And that's all I remember!" The boy then began crying louder, but attempted to muffle his cries into his arms as he curled up into a ball.

"What man?" Luke asked, taking off his damaged helmet and putting a reassuring hand on the boy's shoulder.

"His name was Zeraton," the boy replied through muffled cries.

Once Camp came through, Alpha addressed the five teens and the young boy, who introduced himself as Alex to the rest of the group after he calmed down a bit. "Rangers, we now know that Jason wasn't the Dark Ranger, but I doubt that Zeraton will let us see the last of this abomination of a Ranger. I suspect that he will take the Dark Ranger powers to a new host since Alex was incapable of killing Luke. Rob," Alpha turned towards the Black Ranger, who was hung over, "I have to strip you of your Ranger powers. You chose another activity over defending the world and cost the other Rangers dearly. You also blatantly used your communicator in front of other people when it wasn't necessary at all. I've decided to give your powers to Alex."

Angrily, Rob slammed his morpher and his Power Coin onto a console and stormed out of the Command Center.

- - -

Jason got bored in his cell and began doing push-ups to pass the time. Just as he passed one hundred push-ups, the door his cell slid upon and Jason's jaw dropped.

"Did you miss me, Red Ranger?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Power Rangers: The Curse of the Dark Ranger**

**PART 3**

**By Dalton Cooper**

**Disclaimer: I** do not own any of the Power Rangers characters that appear in this story that you have seen in official Power Rangers merchandise, shows, movies, etc. I do own, however, the characters that you haven't seen before and I also own the storyline.

**Author's Note:** Thank you for all the people that have been reading this so far. I hope you continue reading, and review!

"Miss me, Red Ranger?"

Jason stopped doing his push-ups and his jaw dropped as the light bulb on the ceiling switched on and flooded the cell with a brilliant light. "Goldar…" Jason didn't even bother to take a defensive stance against the monster. Baboo ended up being friendly enough, so why couldn't Goldar be? Plus, Jason knew how loyal Goldar was to Zedd and Rita; he would never work for anyone else (unless he was brainwashed or had amnesia).

"There's no need to worry, I'm not here to fight." Goldar confirmed Jason's assumption.

"Then what are you here for?" Jason asked.

"I'm here to free you," Goldar replied, nodding his head at the open cell door.

Jason paused. "Won't Zeraton destroy you once he finds out you've released me?"

Shrugging, Goldar replied, "I have no purpose in this life anymore. All of my friends are dead again…Zeraton brought them back and ended up just changing them back to sand when he created the Dark Ranger Powers so the Dark Ranger could absorb them. Rito, Finster, Squatt, Baboo…" Goldar trailed off, staring at the ground as he remembered his old friends. Suddenly, Goldar snapped out of it, and handed Jason a hunting knife. "I figured you'd be more comfortable using an Earth weapon for a mission of stealth. Stay here for a moment, Ranger," Goldar cautioned, leaving Jason alone in the cell.

Jason heard Goldar speaking in some strange language to an unknown number of Langists. Their conversation picked up heat, and then Jason heard the sickening sound of blood splattering onto stone.

Readying the knife just in case Goldar was the one who was slaughtered, Jason was relieved (yes, relieved) when the golden-armored winged monster stepped back into his cell. "Come on, Ranger."

Obediently, Jason followed closely behind Goldar into a long hallway that broke off into two directions. Goldar motioned for Jason to go down the path on the right while he went down the path on the left. "Listen Ranger, that hallway is usually void of any Langists. I'm going to take this way," Goldar nodded towards the other hallway, "and I will probably run into some problems. If worse comes to worse, remember that your first priority is disarming them. After that, aim for the throat. When you get to the end of that hallway, go to the left and we will meet up right outside the door to the throne room."

"Wouldn't it make more sense if we stuck together?" Jason asked, fingering the tip of the hunting knife with his index finger.

Goldar shook his head.

- - -

"Man, if you don't do this, and I mean now, I am going to give you crap about it for the rest of your known life," Camp sarcastically warned as he edged the resistant Luke towards Sarah's locker.

"Hi, Luke!" Sarah said, taking out a pink-covered book out of her locker and shutting the door. "What do ya need?"

"Um, well," Luke stumbled with his words, "would you like to…you know…go to a movie…or something with me?"

Smiling, Sarah handed Luke a slip of paper and walked off, giggling, presumably to her next period class.

Luke just stared after the girl he had a major crush on as she disappeared among the sea of students. Finally, Camp nudged with his elbow. "What's the note say?"

Looking down at the note, Luke realized it was Sarah's number.

Camp laughed. "She had that prepared! But don't get cocky, she probably has a ton more for a bunch of other guys."

Playfully, Luke punched Camp in the arm as they headed their separate ways to their classrooms.

- - -

Goldar rounded the next hallway and came across a marching Langist, holding its spear towards the ceiling. The Langist could smell the scent of his dead brethren not too far and violently tapped Goldar on his shoulder plating with his scaly index finger. The Langist threatened Goldar in his native tongue, but instead of replying, Goldar simply kicked the Langist hard in the chest, sending it backwards a few feet.

With a roar, the Langist charged at Goldar with his spear, but Goldar quickly ducked out of the way. Clumsily, the Langist turned around, its spear point positioned at Goldar's throat. With a swift swipe of his sword, Goldar cut the Langist's spear in half!

Confused, the Langist held the two broken parts of the spear in each hand (the spear point on one pointing to the floor), looking at them with a blank expression on its face. Forcefully, Goldar grabbed the Langist by both its wrists and swung its hands upwards, driving the two broken ends of the spear into the Langist's eyes.

The Langist, however, was still alive. It screamed in pain, but Goldar quickly gave it another kick in the chest, sending it backwards into a wall, forcing the spear ends out of its eyes, but also pulling out some of its brain. The Langist slumped to the floor, dead.

- - -

Walking slowly, crouched down the hall and keeping near to the wall, Jason looked ahead; sweat pouring down his face like a waterfall. He kept his movement and his breathing as silent as humanly possible.

Shadows appeared against the far wall of the highway. Jason recognized the body shape of the shadows as belonging to the Langist monsters that accompanied Baboo. Quickly, Jason looked for a way to avoid confrontation. Of course, his first instinct was to look above, and that gave him the best way of eluding his potential captors: a black pipe with odd tube creatures on it that ran along the ceiling. Jason jumped to the pipe, grabbing it with one hand, and then grabbing it with the other, pulling himself to the top. He wrapped his legs around the rest of the pipe, which was disgustingly slimy.

Sure enough, two Langists rounded the corner. Luckily, they paused under Jason to have a conversation in their native tongue. After some, what sounded to Jason like gibberish, one of the Langists slapped the spear out of the other Langist's hands. The Langist made an annoyed sound and bent over to pick up its spear. Jason took this opportunity to swing down from the pipe (hanging onto it by his legs) and slitting the standing (and laughing) Langist's throat with the hunting knife. It made some choking noises and fell over just as the other Langist stood up, holding its spear. It stared down at its fallen comrade with a shocked expression.

Jason leaned over and placed the hunting knife in between his feet, holding himself close to the ceiling with his other arm. Jason then swung down, holding onto the pipe with his arms, and, using his feet, drove the knife into the Langist's neck, but on his way back up, he _brought_ the Langist back up with him. He stabbed the hunting knife and the Langist through the pipe easily (it felt like piercing through flesh) and left the Langist hanging to it. Jason dropped to the floor and picked up the Langist's two spears and headed towards the throne room door.

- - -

Luke, Camp, Sarah, Ann, and Alex were sitting at a table at the local Youth Center drinking a milkshake, their thoughts on the events of the day before with adopting Alex as their new team member and Rob having his powers stripped away. Also, they were worried about the location original Red Ranger that Alpha spoke fondly of. In any case, Luke wanted to meet this man…maybe he could get some pointers from him.

- - -

Jason and Goldar met in front of the throne room's door. Jason recognized the door as belonging to the door that once led to Zedd's throne room before Zordon's energy wave had changed Zedd back into a human being.

"Listen, Ranger," Goldar began, "there is a teleportation pad in the throne room. As soon as we get in there, I will fend off Ecliptor and possibly the Dark Ranger. You just run for the pad. Beforehand, I had programmed it to get as close to the Command Center as physically possible. It won't be a long walk from there. Good luck."

Goldar and Jason burst through the throne room's door. Ecliptor was standing by Zeraton's side, gripping his sword. A strange Ranger that Jason hadn't seen before was standing on Zeraton's other side. This Ranger had a dark black suit, a dark black and red cape, and strange red vein-like tubes all over his suit. Two Langists stood near the teleportation pad that Goldar had described to Jason.

Quickly, Jason threw the two spears at the Langists and made contact with both of them, the spears piercing through their necks. As their bodies slumped to the floor, Ecliptor and the Dark Ranger jumped to action, readying their weapons to defend Zeraton.

"Quickly, Ranger! Run!" Goldar ordered, and Jason obeyed, running to the teleportation pad. However, just as strange black electric currents covered his entire body, Jason caught a glimpse of Zeraton's face, and it shocked him beyond belief.

- - -

Ecliptor approached Goldar until they were practically face-to-face. They both stared each other down…two generals that had worked for two different teams of villains…two extremely powerful fighters that were ready to duke it out against each other.

"Can I absorb them?" the Dark Ranger whispered to Lord Zeraton.

Zeraton shook his head. "No, I have something better in store for you later."

Goldar swung his sword at Ecliptor, but Ecliptor quickly blocked the attack with his own sword. Shooting lasers out of his eyes, Goldar blasted Ecliptor in the chest, sending him reeling backwards. Goldar and Ecliptor swung their swords simultaneously, blocking each other's attempt. Ecliptor then shot a black beam of electricity from the tip of his sword, which hit Goldar hard, sending him flying backwards against the wall. Ecliptor hurried over to finish the job, but Goldar kicked him in the chest, sending him backwards. Goldar flew somewhat in the air and shot Ecliptor in the chest with another two lasers from his eyes. This sent Ecliptor reeling backwards some more, giving Goldar the opportunity to swing down hard with his sword into Ecliptor, who erupted in a large sparking explosion.

Goldar laughed heartily as his victory, but suddenly, Ecliptor's body faded away. "Cyber Shadow!" Goldar cursed and felt the real Ecliptor's sword slashing into his back, knocking Goldar to the ground.

Zeraton grinned at the nearly dead Goldar lying on the floor.

"Why are you working for him, Ecliptor?! What about Astronema?!" Goldar asked his attacker.

"Foolish ape! Master Zeraton has promised to bring Astronema back to the side of evil after I am done serving him!" Ecliptor replied angrily.

"He only makes empty promises, Ecliptor! He's using you!"

"No! Master Zeraton wouldn't deceive me! I am of worth to him!" Ecliptor said with a slight tone of doubt present in his voice.

Goldar laughed, despite the immense pain surging throughout his entire body. "You are nothing to him! The only thing Zeraton cares about is the Dark Ranger!"

Shaking his head, Ecliptor slowly backed away. "I will prove my worth, then! I will single-handedly defeat the Power Rangers!" Ecliptor then teleported out of the Lunar Palace.

"What if the Rangers destroy Ecliptor? I won't be able to absorb his power if he doesn't change back into his sand state!" the Dark Ranger reminded Zeraton.

Zeraton smiled at the Dark Ranger. "I have a better plan in store for you, and after it is completed, you will be unstoppable!"

The Dark Ranger smiled behind his visor before glancing back at Goldar. "Do I absorb him?"

"No, I may still have some use of him yet."

- - -

During the middle of their milkshakes, Luke, Sarah, Camp, Ann, and Alex's communicators began beeping frantically. Luke threw five dollars on the tabletop and the rest of the group followed him into an empty hallway of the Youth Center.

"Yes, Alpha?" Luke asked.

"A monster known as Ecliptor is in the park! He is extremely powerful and shouldn't be taken lightly," Alpha warned.

Camp smiled and put his hand on Alex's shoulder. "Your first taste of being a good guy, are you excited?"

Alex nodded nervously.

"What's wrong?" Ann asked.

"It's just that," Alex began, "when I was the Dark Ranger, I was under a spell. It wasn't really me fighting, it was the spell. I don't think I'd be very much help to you as a Ranger."

Luke smiled and nudged Alex. "You kicked my ass, dude. No spell could've done that, trust me…I'm like godly."

Alex laughed and Sarah looked admiringly at Luke for his helpful sarcasm.

"You ready guys?" Luke asked, readying his communicator. The others nodded. Luke grinned. "It's morphin time!"

"Mastodon!"

"Pterodactyl!"

"Triceratops!"

"Saber-Toothed Tiger!"

"Tyrannosaurus!"

The group quickly morphed (and managed to avoid the sight of anyone at the Youth Center) and teleported to the park.

- - -

When the Rangers materialized in the park (their teleportation by their respective colors), they immediately saw Ecliptor, however, they failed to see any Langists.

"Where are those lizard things?" Ann asked.

Luke shook his head. "No idea."

"I am an honorable fighter, Rangers. I am here to prove my worth by defeating all of you by myself!" Ecliptor announced, getting into a fighting stance.

"Looks like he means business guys," Camp remarked.

Sarah nodded. "Let's do it!"

Alex, however, didn't have time to say any corny lines because he was too busy admiring his black and yellow axe that came equipped with the Black Ranger Powers. It had a powerful, yet slightly blunt, blade and the top of the axe had a blaster on it. "This is so cool!"

Ecliptor ran towards the Rangers with a loud battle cry. Luke charged right back; his sword readied also, and prepared to battle Ecliptor.

The two fighters stopped as they reached each other, circling each other with their weapons ready in fighting stances. Luke stared into Ecliptor's ruby red eyes as they rounded each other, both waiting for the other one to strike.

"Oh, Christ," Camp said, rolling his eyes behind his visor, "I can't stand this." Camp pulled out his blaster and quickly shot at Ecliptor, hitting him on his shoulder.

This gave Luke the opportunity for a jumping strike, but Ecliptor quickly blocked it with his sword and then kicked Luke in the chest with enough force that it caused his suit to spark and sent him a few feet back.

Quickly, his teammates ran for the battle (except for Sarah who stayed behind to ready her bow) with their weapons drawn.

Foolishly, Luke went for another jumping strike, but Ecliptor grabbed his sword by the handle and _threw_ Luke to the side, slamming him into Camp, forcing him to the ground.

Alex shot a few blasts from his axe, but Ecliptor blocked all the shots, sending them aimlessly through the air. Ann went to stab at Ecliptor with one of her daggers, but he quickly dodged it and roundhouse kicked her in the side of the head. Alex swung at Ecliptor with his axe, but Ecliptor blocked the swing with his sword. Quickly, Alex kicked Ecliptor in the stomach and shot him in the face three times with his axe, sending Ecliptor to the ground.

"Go Alex!" Luke yelled, firing a few shots from his blaster at Ecliptor, and having each one make its mark.

Ecliptor, however, simply got back up, seeming rather unfazed by the attacks.

"There's not even a scratch on him!" Camp proclaimed.

Suddenly, Sarah's arrow flew across the park and exploded on the side of Ecliptor's head, causing massive sparks. Ecliptor fell to the ground again, but got right back up as before.

"Foolish Rangers! Nothing you do can defeat me!" Ecliptor announced, pointing his sword at Sarah and shooting black electricity from it. Sarah ducked and rolled away from the electricity and ran at Ecliptor, firing random shots from her blaster at him. Ecliptor blocked all of them but one, which gave Sarah the perfect chance to land a strong kick to Ecliptor's chest. She then went for a roundhouse kick, but Ecliptor blocked it with his left hand. Quickly rebounding from the block, Sarah spun around and got low to the ground, her leg poised to sweep Ecliptor to the ground. Ecliptor, however, jumped over Sarah's leg and slashed her across the chest as she spun back around.

"Nothing we do affects him!" Ann said, sounding defeated.

Suddenly, to the dismay of the Rangers, Ecliptor grew to an enormously insurmountable size.

"Oh…son…of a _bitch_!" Camp said, kicking the ground as he watched Ecliptor growing to the gigantic size.

" 'Honorable fighter' my ass!" Luke added, extremely angry.

"Hey!" Sarah scorned. "Watch your language around Alex!"

Suddenly, their communicators began beeping wildly. "Alpha, we're kinda busy right now!" Luke replied into his communicator.

"Rangers, I have sent the Zords to aid you!" Alpha replied.

"Zords?" Alex asked.

Camp shrugged. "I've never heard of them."

"The Zords will help you greatly in your battle. When you get your Zords, combine them into the Megazord Tank Mode and then the Megazord Battle Mode," Alpha advised.

Five massive mechs quickly came into view: a Tyrannosaurus Rex, a Mastodon, a Triceratops, a Pterodactyl, and a Saber-Toothed Tiger.

"Whoa!" Camp remarked as he stepped into his Zord, the Triceratops Dinozord.

"You ready?" Luke asked through the speaker system of his Tyrannosaurus Dinozord.

"Nice stereo!" Sarah remarked, checking out the controls of her Pterodactyl Dinozord.

The gigantic Ecliptor laughed. "Your worthless Zords are no match for me!" he threatened, attempting to swing his sword down on the Saber-Toothed Tiger Zord, but the Zord easily dodged it. "Damn!"

The Triceratops Dinozord's tail rolled up and shot a powerful blast into Ecliptor, causing him to stumble. "Yeah!" Camp proclaimed, shooting the Zord's chain horns at Ecliptor, pinning his arms to the ground.

Quickly, Alex's Mastodon Dinozord walked up to Ecliptor and shot a blast of ice from its trunk, freezing Ecliptor's legs to the ground. "Got ya!"

Sarah's Pterodactyl Dinozord swooped above Ecliptor and shot powerful blasts from its shoulder cannons, hitting Ecliptor directly on the chest. "Nothing to it!"

Ann's Saber-Toothed Tiger Zord shot blasts from its tail as it jumped over Ecliptor. "There we go!"

Luke's Tyrannosaurus Dinozord slammed its tail hard onto Ecliptor's chest and then shot two powerful blasts into his face with its jaw cannons. "This is easy!"

- - -

Zeraton and the Dark Ranger watched the battle through a small globe positioned in front of Zeraton's throne. Zeraton yawned and waved his hand around, making the globe disappear in a wisp of black smoke.

"What if the Rangers destroy him and he reverts back into sand?" the Dark Ranger asked.

Zeraton laughed. "There is only a five-percent chance of that happening, and believe me, it's not going to happen."

- - -

"We've got him!" Luke announced excitedly.

However, Ecliptor created a gigantic Cyber Shadow!

"There's too of him!" Alex gasped.

"What'd Alpha say? Something about combining our Zords?" Sarah asked.

"That's right!" Camp replied.

"Yeah! He said we can create the Megazord Tank Mode!" Ann added.

Suddenly, the Zords combined, the Tyrannosaurus Dinozord in the middle, the Mastodon split into two, creating two large cannons on the Tyrannosaurus Dinozord's shoulder, the Triceratops Dinozord and the Saber-Toothed Tiger Dinozord folded up to create tank-like tracking, and the Pterodactyl Dinozord attached itself to the Megazord Tank Mode's back.

Electricity shot out of the heads of each individual Zord, blasting into the Cyber Shadow. Then, the two cannons created a huge blast that destroyed the Cyber Shadow all together, but destroyed the ice that froze Ecliptor to the ground.

Ecliptor hurried to his feet and kicked the Megazord Tank Mode hard, forcing the Rangers back a few feet.

"It's time to go to Battle Mode!" Luke announced.

The Megazord Tank Mode flipped up to make a more humanoid shape. The Mastodon's head became a shield, and its arms remained. The Tyrannosaurus's head flipped inside of the body and a new head flipped out. The Pterodactyl swooped around and attached itself to the Megazord's chest as armor. The five Rangers were transported to one main cockpit in the Megazord's head.

"What's this?" Camp asked, pressing a button on the console in front of him. Suddenly, a big beam of energy blasted from a horn on the Megazord's head and hit Ecliptor hard.

"Whoa!" all the Rangers announced simultaneously.

Ecliptor quickly recovered and swung his sword, but the Megazord blocked it with its shield, forcing Ecliptor to back up again.

Suddenly, a sword flew from the sky and landed at the feet of the Megazord. The Megazord grabbed it with its free hand…it was the Power Sword.

The Megazord slammed its shield into Ecliptor's face and then swung hard with the Power Sword, slicing Ecliptor in half with a humongous explosion.

As the Rangers left to return to the Command Center, a strange figure collected the sands of the fallen Ecliptor…

- - -

Back at the Command Center, the Rangers celebrated their latest victory.

"Alpha, why wasn't my visor broken still from the fight with the Dark Ranger yesterday?" Luke asked.

"Your Coin's energies repair the suits after you de-morph," Alpha explained. "That's why sometimes you automatically de-morph because the Power Coin needs time to repair your suit before it is unfixable."

"Those Zords are truly amazing," Ann remarked.

Sarah grabbed Luke's hands and pulled him aside from everyone else. "Yeah?" Luke asked.

Smiling, Sarah stood on her tiptoes and kissed Luke softly on the lips. As she pulled away, Luke pulled her closer, embracing her in a passionate kiss.

Camp tried to show off to Ann by showing Alex some fighting moves.

As the Rangers continued their celebration, someone they had never met before entered the Command Center. He was well built and had black hair.

"Jason!" Alpha gasped.

Luke and Sarah paused from their kissing to see the original Red Power Ranger walk into the Command Center. Jason folded his arms and stared scornfully at Alpha 12.

"Alpha, isn't there something you need to tell us about Zeraton's parents?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Power Rangers: The Curse of the Dark Ranger**

**PART 4**

**By Dalton Cooper**

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of the Power Rangers characters you've heard of before that appear in this story, but I do own the characters that you haven't heard of until you've read this. I do not own the concept of Power Rangers, but I do own this story.

**Author's Note:** Thanks to everyone that has been reading this so far. Please review.

"Alpha, isn't there something you need to tell us about Zeraton's parents?" Jason asked with his arms folded and a scolding expression on his face.

"Aiye, yai, yai, yai, yai!" Alpha complained, stalling by pretending to do something with the console nearest to him.

"Alpha…"

Turning around, Alpha sighed a heavy robotic sigh. "Fine. I'll start from the beginning…"

- - - FLASHBACK - - -

"Rita…" Zordon whispered into his lover's ear as they danced slowly on their Eltarian (Eltar is Zordon's home planet) balcony. This Zordon, however, wasn't the gray and frail Zordon that had recruited the original five Power Rangers. On the contrary, this Zordon was young and handsome. He had a full head of chestnut brown hair and he looked to be in his Earth 20's (in actuality, he was rounding 24,000).

Rita Repulsa was also very different from the evil witch who had first tried to invade Earth from the Lunar Palace. She was younger, and much more beautiful. Her skin was dark and her facial features flirted with the Asian Earth Race. She held Zordon even closer to her as he kissed her softly on the cheek.

Suddenly, their young son burst onto the balcony. He was a cute little boy with some freckles and a short head of the same chestnut brown hair as Zordon.

"Mom, dad!" the boy said frantically. "Uncle Rito fell down the stairs again!"

Chuckling, Rita approached her son and squatted to his eye level. She placed one of her hands on the boy's shoulder and said to him, "Uncle Rito will be fine. He may not be providing much in the brain department, but he's tough on the outside."

The boy dropped his eyebrows at his mother and cocked his head in a scornful fashion that he probably picked up from her. "He's crying."

Zordon laughed a bit, but Rita whipped around and gave him a somewhat flirtatious dirty look.

- - -

As Rita and her son went to check on her injured step-brother, Zordon headed over to his long-time friend Zedd's home down the street from Zordon and Rita's home.

Zedd welcomed Zordon into his home with a wide smile, but wasn't replied to with the usual happy expressions of Zordon. Instead, the wizard gravely stared at the ground and fidgeted with his hands nervously.

"What's the matter, Zordon?" Zedd asked concernedly.

"My friend," Zordon began, "I had a vision last night and I need you to promise me something."

Zedd nodded. "Anything."

"Promise to look after Rita for me if I'm ever not around, okay?" Zordon asked.

Cocking his head, Zedd asked, "What was your vision about?"

Zordon sighed and stared out Zedd's open window at his beautiful home planet of Eltar. "I had a vision that a great evil will arrive on Eltar and kill me. This man…this…thing…would also change all of my friends into horrific creatures."

A moment of silence filled the room as Zedd assessed the situation. Finally, he said, "If I'm turned into a monster, I want you to kill me."

Zordon smiled softly. "I'll be dead, remember?"

- - -

Handing her younger step-brother an icepack, Rita sighed heavily and she told her son to go play outside.

Rito Revolto, Rita Repulsa's younger step-brother, looked very much different from his sister. Rita had long black hair with deep brown eyes, but Rito had short blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes. Rita was tan while Rito was a handsome pale and Rita had slight Asian qualities about herself while Rito looked like a natural-born American (though he was actually born on Planet Vile).

"Dad's here," Rito informed Rita, placing the icepack on his sore arm. "He wants to see you."

Rolling her eyes, Rita turned away from her brother. "I don't want anything to do with that bastard."

Sighing, Rito stood up and forced his step-sister to face him, ignoring the pain in his arm for a moment by placing the icepack on the counter. "Look, Rita, dad has changed. He isn't the old mean Mr. Vile that you knew; he's a loving and caring person now."

"Quit calling him my 'father,'" Rita ordered, pushing past her step-brother and locking herself in her room.

- - -

Master Vile Revolto was a secretly hated person that everyone pretended to like because he had power. He always walked around in business suits and a tie, bragging about his money and how much better than everyone else he was.

As he strolled down the unfamiliar Eltarian streets, Master Vile spotted a young boy and recognized him as his grandson. Putting on the best smile he could, Master Vile approached the boy with open arms.

The boy paused and eyed Master Vile for a few seconds. "Hello, Mr. Vile."

Laughing, Master Vile gripped the boy's arms. "You can call me 'grandpa'!"

Pulling away from his step-grandfather, the boy ran off into the calm streets of Eltar and ran until he was out of the sight of Master Vile.

To most people, having one of your grandchildren run away from you would be emotionally devastating, but Master Vile just watched his kin run away with a smile on his face. He didn't mind having someone in his family hate him…in fact almost everyone in his family hated him already and one more addition to that list wouldn't be any cause for concern.

Leaves started blowing around Master Vile's feet at an alarming speed. He backed up, confused at this sudden change in the weather when two dark figures approached him. "Who are you?"

One of the dark figures stepped out of the shadows, revealing that it wasn't dark at all. In fact, this figure was a heavily golden-armored creature with only its big white eyes visible through its armor. It towered over Master Vile and had six green lights on its chest. "My name is ArmorX, my friend's name here isn't important."

Suddenly, a wave of black electricity shot from the other figure, hitting Master Vile hard. His aged face began to shape-shift and fold over. His cranium grew slightly larger and the color on his body changed from white to a yellow and black combination. Master Vile's usually squinty eyes grew larger and blacker. Two strange, thick worm-like structures grew out of the side of his head and his stomach became slightly metallic.

- - -

Goldar and Scorpina laughed heartily as they ate a common Eltarian dinner together at the best restaurant Eltar had to offer. Various humans and aliens gave them annoyed looks as the volume of their laughter kept rising.

Though they were two separate species, Goldar and Scorpina were in love. Scorpina was a beautiful human, with long black hair and beautiful brown eyes, while Goldar was a simian-like creature with golden armor and wings.

Smiling, Scorpina clutched Goldar's hand and began rubbing his palm gently with her thumb. "I love you," she whispered, her smile not changing in the least bit.

"I love you, too," Goldar replied, trying to return a smile, but it was very difficult with the way the jaw of his species worked.

Laughing, Scorpina got up and began flirtatiously running away. "Come catch me, Goldar!"

Trying to smile again, but giving up after failing miserably at it, Goldar dropped four Eltavs (twenty Earth dollars) onto the table and began chasing after the love of his life, by making sure to keep a safe distance behind in order to keep the game going. He chased her into a dark alley, but was surprised when she stopped suddenly.

Suddenly, black electricity shot out of the shadows and struck Scorpina hard. "Scorpina!" Goldar yelled, unsheathing his sword and facing the shadows. "Where are you, you bastards?!"

A golden-armored creature stepped out of the shadows. The creature was extremely tall and bulky with six green lights on its chest. Goldar swung his sword at the creature, but it grabbed his wrist and began squeezing extremely hard. The creature didn't let go until it heard some cracking sounds.

Goldar fell to the ground. "You…you bastards…"

Hearing a laugh of someone other than the golden-plated creature, Goldar tried to look up, but couldn't see the other figure…

- - - FLASHBACK - - -

Alpha bowed his head, but the new Rangers were still very confused, Camp being the most confused.

"Zeraton," Alpha began, "is the son of Zordon and Rita Repulsa…on that day, Scorpina was turned into a golden-armored warrior and Goldar would never dare leave her. So, he followed her around Eltar, terrorizing citizens, until the creature known as ArmorX and the mysterious other figure never known found Rita, Zordon, Zedd, Rito, and Zeraton. The other figure used his powers to transform Rita into an evil witch, Zedd into a skin-less silver-faced tyrant, Rito into a skeletal creature made entirely out of bones, and turned Zeraton into the evil wizard he is today."

"What about Zordon?" Ann asked.

"Zordon found it hard to destroy his friends, and that was his first flaw. Zeraton disappeared and a war began between Rita and Zordon…Zordon, however, recruited five warriors that began sealing Rita and her recruited minions in a dumpster of sorts, and launched it into space. Lord Zedd had left long before to go conquer galaxies, Scorpina disappeared, Master Vile returned to his home planet as the new dictator, and with her last bit of energy before being stuck into the dumpster, Rita used her magic to trap Zordon in a timewarp. Later, Zordon sent a message to the planet Edenoi for the king there to construct a robot for him…after four failed attempts, this robot came to be known as the legendary Alpha 5. Two more robots were created, Alpha 6 and Alpha 7 after Alpha 5 had returned to Eltar with Zordon shortly after the Turbo Powers were given to the Power Rangers. However, when Dark Specter attacked Eltar, Alpha 5 was captured and disappeared, not before creating five more fully-sentient multifunctional automatons. The other four were destroyed, and I am the only one left. Alpha 6 still currently resides on the Terra Venture colony while Alpha 7 works with the Space Red Ranger Andros on his Megaship."

Sarah stepped out of Luke's arms and approached Alpha, her facial expressions filled with a quizzical manner. "What about that ArmorX creature?"

"After doing more research, we discovered that ArmorX was the originator of the dreaded Machine Empire that invaded Earth years ago."

- - -

The Dark Ranger followed his master through a secret door in the Lunar Palace that led into a large cavernous room filled with hundreds of creatures of all kind: the gray and dumb Putty Patrollers, the slightly less dumb Z-Putty Patrollers, the bird-like creatures Tenga Warriors, the gray-suited golden-faced robotic foot soldiers of the Machine Empire the Cogs, the fish-like creatures called Pirahnatrons that served under the space pirate Divatox, the slimy Putra Pods, and the robotic Quantron warriors.

"This," Zeraton said, waving his hand at the hundreds of creatures, "is the plan I had in store for you. Alone, these creatures are worthless, but if you absorb all of them, you'll garner an insurmountable power. You will be almost unstoppable, Rob."

- - -

Back at the Command Center, the alarm system began going crazy. Worriedly, Alpha hurried to the viewing globe in the middle of the room and sighed deeply when he saw what was going on. "Aiye, yai, yai, yai, yai!"

"What's going on?" Alex asked as the others crowded around the globe, Luke's hand in Sarah's.

Jason eyed the viewing globe and saw none other than Goldar walking in the middle of the park, but Goldar's usually golden-armor was a deep purple color and his eyes were dark black. "So, that's what Zeraton did to you…"

"Rangers, go!" Alpha ordered and the Rangers all teleported out of the Command Center in their respective colors.

"Alpha," Jason began, "I'm going, too."

Sighing, Alpha hurried to a control console and pressed a button. Suddenly, the viewing globe disappeared into the floor and a pedestal took its place, with a morpher on it.

- - -

Luke, Sarah, Camp, Ann, and Alex arrived at the park and Goldar immediately took notice of them.

"You ready guys?" Luke asked.

Camp, Alex, Ann, and Sarah nodded simultaneously.

"It's morphin time!"

Just as they held their morphers out in front of them, Jason materialized in a green flash of energy right beside them. Grinning, Jason held out the morpher Alpha 12 gave him in front of him. "Hey, noob. That's my line."

"Dragonzord!" Jason bellowed, morphing into the Green Power Ranger with a golden armor chest plate on his suit.

"Cool suit!" Camp commented.

"Mastodon!"

"Pterodactyl!"

"Triceratops!"

"Saber-Toothed Tiger!"

"Tyrannosaurus!"

The six Rangers took a stance against the charging Dark Goldar, who had his sword unsheathed and ready to strike.

"You ready?" Luke asked, gripping his blaster's handle, his finger ready on the trigger.

"Ready!" Camp replied.

Sarah nodded as did Alex and Ann.

"Fire!" Luke ordered, pulling out his blaster and firing a few shots at Dark Goldar, but none of his shots were effective. The other four Rangers followed suit and shot at Dark Goldar at the same time, but even though all of their shots connected, none of them did virtually any damage whatsoever.

Jason didn't even bother to try his blaster and just ran at Dark Goldar head-on, landing a nice kick to his chest which sent him back a couple of inches. Dark Goldar swung his sword at Jason, but Jason swiftly dodged it and punched Dark Goldar in the stomach. Punching the bottom of Dark Goldar's elbow, Jason forced the sword out of his hand.

Growling some random gibberish, Dark Goldar jumped back and began rubbing his sore elbow. Foam began bubbling out of Dark Goldar's jaw as he stared Jason down.

"Goldar, I know you're in there. You said you'd never betray Zedd and Rita!" Jason challenged, keeping one of his hands on his Dragon Dagger.

Making a fist, Dark Goldar just growled louder at the new Green Ranger.

"What about Scorpina?!" Jason asked, keeping a hard stance against Dark Goldar, not budging at all.

Dark Goldar's dark purple armor began flashing to its original golden state, but quickly flashed back to the dark purple. Staggering, Dark Goldar almost fell, but he was just able to maintain his balance.

Taking advantage of Dark Goldar's weakened state, Luke, Sarah, Ann, Camp, and Alex all opened fire on the beast, their combined power causing massive explosions on the monster and sending him to the ground.

"Is he dead?" Alex asked, eyeing the fallen Dark Goldar suspiciously.

Sarah shrugged. "No idea. What do you think, Luke?"

Before Luke could reply, the Dark Ranger materialized in front of Dark Goldar. Quickly, Sarah shot an arrow at the Dark Ranger, but the arrow turned black before impact and wilted like a dying rose.

"He destroyed my arrow without even touching it!" Sarah remarked in awe.

"You guys are just as stupid as you were the last time we spoke," the Dark Ranger remarked with a slight chuckle.

"That's Rob's voice!" Luke realized, astonished.

"Is he under a spell?" Camp asked.

Alex shook his head. "No, when you're under the spell, you're a completely different person. This guy is doing all of this on his own!"

Without warning, Jason charged at the Dark Ranger, but was flown dozens of feet backwards before impact in a massive explosion of sparks. The force was so great, that it forced Jason to de-morph.

"Jason!" Ann yelled in alarm, her attempt to run to their new ally's aid blocked by Luke.

"We have to think of a strategy, Ann," Luke warned her, holding her back.

"But he's hurt!" Ann replied back, worriedly staring at the motionless Ranger.

Suddenly, a huge blast of electricity shot at the Rangers, making contact with all of them, and sending them flying onto their backs.

"The powers are a lot tougher from last time," Camp remarked, barely able to talk.

Luke, however, fought through the pain and got onto his feet. Drawing his sword, he took a fighting stance against the Dark Ranger, despite the fact that his suit still had smoke wisping out of it from the explosion.

"Luke!" Sarah screamed. "You can't beat him!"

Chuckling, Luke turned to the girl he had recently fallen in love with. "I can do anything. I got the greatest girl in the world didn't I?"

Rolling his eyes behind his visor, Camp simply rolled over so he wouldn't have to watch the corny exchange of words between lovers.

The Dark Ranger laughed loudly and turned to the motionless Dark Goldar and drew his sword, an action that the Rangers recognized as absorbing Dark Goldar's powers.

"No!" Luke yelled, firing his blaster randomly at the Dark Ranger, but having his bullets simply disappear every time they were about to make impact.

The Dark Ranger whipped around just as Luke got close to him and quickly sliced him twice across the chest, causing Luke's suit to spark and sending him back onto the ground.

"I never could figure out why you were the leader," the Dark Ranger said mockingly, turning his back to Luke to finish the Dark Goldar absorption. However, the Dark Ranger didn't get the chance to absorb Dark Goldar because, to everyone's surprise, Dark Goldar got back to his feet and grew to an immense height.

"We need Dinozord Power now!" Luke yelled, and was relieved to see the Dinozords had arrived at the scene almost immediately.

All of the Rangers got into their respective Zords, combined them into the Megazord Tank Mode, and then transformed that mode into the more powerful Megazord Battle Mode.

After calling forth the Power Sword, the Megazord took a fighting stance against the gigantic Dark Goldar. Lasers beamed out of Dark Goldar's eyes and struck the Megazord directly on the chest, forcing it to take a couple steps back. As a quick rebound, the Megazord gave Dark Goldar a hard left to the side of the face and then a strong kick for good measure, forcing Dark Goldar to pause from any counter-attacks due to the pain. The Megazord went for the finishing strike, but Dark Goldar swiftly blocked the Power Sword with his sword, and then grabbed the Megazord by the face.

"Whoa!" Luke remarked from inside the Megazord's main control room.

"We can't see a thing!" Camp complained, pounding his fist onto the control console by him.

However, before Dark Goldar could do anymore damage, he was forced off of the Megazord by a different Zord. This Zord was a fully black Zord the same size as the Megazord, with four rocket launchers on each shoulder, a red beam sword in its right hand, and a long blade that was attached to its left arm.

"Luke…we have a problem…" Alex said worriedly, a terrified expression hidden by his visor.

"What is that?" Sarah asked. Her voice revealed that she was just as scared as Alex.

Shaking his head, Luke just stared in awe at the awesome Zord.

Suddenly, Alpha beeped into the speakers on their Megazord. "Rangers, Rangers!"

"Uh, Alpha, we have bigger problems here," Luke replied.

Ann nodded. "Yeah, way bigger."

"Rangers! That Zord you see is known as the GammaZord! I thought it was only legend…it's the most powerful and evil Zord in the universe!"

The Rangers watched in awe as the GammaZord (obviously piloted by the Dark Ranger) slashed Dark Goldar across the chest with its blade, causing sparks to fly everywhere. Dark Goldar tried to slash at the GammaZord with his sword, but the GammaZord simply cut Dark Goldar's sword in half with its beam sword. With a hard kick, Dark Goldar was sent sliding backwards, knocking down most of the trees in the park and leaving large ditches where his feet was dragging. Suddenly, all eight rockets shot out of the GammaZord's shoulders and flew towards Dark Goldar in a spinning motion, all of them hitting him simultaneously. The explosion was enough to destroy Dark Goldar's chest armor, leaving him extremely vulnerable. Two jetpacks were revealed to be on the bottom of the GammaZord's feet as it flew at Dark Goldar, its blade poised to strike. Slamming its fist forward, the GammaZord's blade pierced through Dark Goldar's chest, causing the giant to fall to the ground and shrink back to its normal size, presumably dead.

"Fast, Luke! We have to get it while its back is turned!" Camp advised.

Quickly, the Megazord ran towards the GammaZord, Power Sword readied. Swinging down hard, the Megazord made contact with the GammaZord's back, doing little to no damage.

Luke cursed as he and the other Rangers realized that their attack had no effect.

Whipping around at an amazing speed, the GammaZord slashed the Megazord across the chest, causing massive sparking and making the Megazord stumble. Just when the GammaZord was going to deliver the finishing blow with his beam sword, the tail of _another_ Zord slammed into the GammaZord's chest, forcing the GammaZord to step back a couple of feet.

"What is that?" Ann asked as the Rangers saw the new Zord that entered the fold.

This Zord was a large Zord with an extra layer of armor over it and to Luke, it resembled Godzilla. It had a multi-sectioned tail and its fingers looked like they were actually missiles…in fact, Luke could tell they were missiles!

"Rangers, Rangers! That Zord is the Dragonzord! Jason was able to morph again and use the Dragon Dagger's flute capabilities to call forth this Zord!" Alpha informed the Rangers through the speakers in the Megazord's main cockpit.

"You mean, he doesn't even have to be _in _the damn thing?!" Camp asked, jealous of Jason's good luck.

Quickly, the Megazord slashed down on the GammaZord with the Power Sword across its chest, and the Dragonzord added salt to the wound by firing all ten of its finger missiles onto the visor of the GammaZord.

_GammaZord self-destruct sequence activating_.

"What?!" Camp asked, alarmed.

"What's going on?" Alex asked worriedly.

Quickly, Luke activated the Megazord's evacuation feature, and all of the Zords disassembled, returning to their respective hideouts, as the GammaZord's self-destruct sequence counted down.

Running as fast as they could, the Rangers were suddenly blown forward when the GammaZord blew, causing one of the biggest explosions ever seen. The explosion was so destructible, that it completely obliterated the Dragonzord, and left the GammaZord only in rubble.

Jason ran to his comrades, who quickly recovered from the explosion that sent them rocketing forward. "Are you guys okay?" he asked.

Nodding and pointing towards the rubble of the GammaZord, Sarah asked, "What's that?"

As the smoke cleared from the rubble that was once the great and powerful GammaZord, they could barely make out the figure of the Dark Ranger stepping out of the rubble, without even one scratch on him!"

"He survived that?!" Camp asked, alarmed.

"Goddamn it!" Luke swore, gripping his sword.

The Dark Ranger approached the Rangers, and suddenly, a large black globe encircled the seven Power Rangers.

"What's this?!" Luke asked, staring wildly at the black globe that surrounded them.

Laughing, the Dark Ranger stopped and unsheathed both of his swords. "Listen, Rangers! You are all going to die in this globe and I am going to enjoy every little second of killing you!" The Dark Ranger then turned his attention to Sarah. "I might even have some extra fun with you, babe."

Angrily, Luke charged at the Dark Ranger, his sword ready.

"Luke no!" Sarah screamed.

"It's suicide, man!" Camp added.

Swinging his sword down, Luke connected with one of the Dark Ranger's sword, sending a ton of electricity surging through his body, but he didn't care. Luke swung again, and again connected with one of the Dark Ranger's sword, and again it sent a ton of electricity surging into his body. The pain kept building in Luke's body as he went for another swing, but the Dark Ranger sliced both of his swords simultaneously across Luke's chest, causing massive sparking and forcing the Red Ranger to the ground.

The other Rangers started firing their blasters at the Dark Ranger, but none of their attempts worked…the blasts disappeared just before they were about to make contact with the Dark Ranger.

Ripping the morpher off of Luke's belt, the Dark Ranger laughed excitedly, and then squeezed hard on the morpher…and snapped it, along with the Power Coin, in half!

Luke de-morphed, but got right back onto his feet. "_Listen, you son of a bitch_…_I am going to kill you_!"

With a hard right, Luke actually made contact with the Dark Ranger's helmet. It didn't seem to affect the Dark Ranger much, but it bloodied-up Luke's knuckles greatly. Luke didn't care though, and kept swinging over and over into the Dark Ranger's helmet, and managed to crack his visor…as well as totally bust his own knuckles.

Frustrated, the Dark Ranger stabbed both of his swords through Luke's stomach. Luke's eyes widened as he fell to the ground.

"_Luke_!" Sarah screamed, dropping to her knees as she watched her lover's body lying motionless at the feet of the Dark Ranger…


	5. Chapter 5

**Power Rangers: The Curse of the Dark Ranger**

**PART 5**

**By Dalton Cooper**

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the Power Rangers characters that you have heard of before this story. I do own, however, the characters you haven't heard of before this story and the plot.

**Author's Note: **This is the final part. All of my PR fanfics will follow in the continuity of this one. Please review and enjoy!

Camp watched his friend cripple at the feet of the Dark Ranger and his jaw tightened. He could hear Sarah, Ann, and Alex sobbing, but the only thing he heard from Jason was random cursing. Camp, however, just remained silent, curling his hand into a fist.

"Listen, you bastard…I have had _enough_ of you!" Camp yelled, taking a fighting stance against the Dark Ranger. "I beat you once, remember, and I can fucking do it again!"

Laughing, the Dark Ranger readied his two swords, ignoring the crack in his visor. "This time will be much more different, you blue bastard! I don't have a petty little knife; I have two huge swords at my disposal!"

"Glad _something _on you is huge!" Camp shot back.

Blushing behind his visor, Rob scowled. "You are going to regret getting into my business!"

Camp grinned. "I really doubt it."

With a loud roar, Rob rushed at Camp, the two swords outstretched in front of him. Swiftly, Camp grabbed the Dark Ranger by both of his wrists, and with two quick twists, disarmed Rob! Camp then followed with a hard kick to the Dark Ranger's chest, sending him backwards onto his ass!

Suddenly, a bright blue beam shot out of Camp's Power Coin and morpher, and struck the fallen body of Luke. Luke was enveloped in the blue light, and his body began floating into the air.

Bewildered, Rob crawled backwards, staring in awe at the floating body of the fallen Red Ranger Luke Dawsing.

"I love you, Luke," Sarah whispered softly, crying softly behind her visor as a bright pink beam shot out of her Power Coin and morpher and joined Camp's blue beam, adding a shade of pink to the blue that surrounded the floating Luke.

Suddenly, a green beam, a yellow beam, and a black beam shot out of the Power Coins and morphers of Jason, Ann, and Alex simultaneously, and all of them joined the pink and blue that enveloped Luke. As the colors combined, they disappeared, but left Luke suspended in air, now covered in a completely bright light.

Though nobody could see it, Luke's eyes flashed open, and a grin spread across his face. A morpher materialized in front of him, and he grabbed it. "That's it, Rob. You decided to side with the darkness, and now you must be defeated!"

"You're dead!" Rob gasped, finally managing to get to his feet.

"Light Ranger Powers…Activate!" Luke bellowed, letting the brilliantly bright light enclose onto his body to create the new Light Ranger! This suit was made out of pure light and came equipped with one extremely powerful Light Sword.

"Amazing!" Ann gasped, staring in awe at the suit bestowed to Luke.

"That is awesome!" Camp agreed.

Alex was speechless, and Sarah was too happy about her boyfriend being resurrected that it was hard for her to breathe let alone talk.

The Dark Ranger took a fighting stance against the new and much more powerful foe, but Luke simply laughed at this. Swinging down, sword ready, Luke flew past the Dark Ranger, taking a swipe at him, and connecting with a brilliant blast of sparking.

"You can't…defeat me that easily..." the Dark Ranger said, placing his hand over the wound.

Luke flew back up into the air and held his left hand out in front of him.

"What is he doing?" Alex asked no one in particular (who could know?).

A big bright ball of light began forming in Luke's hand. The ball whirled around and made whizzing noises as Luke pulled his hand back and threw it into the Dark Ranger! The ball went inside the Dark Ranger's body, but then…nothing else happened.

"What did that do?" Camp asked, staring at the Dark Ranger, who was just laughing.

"That didn't even hurt, you stupid-

Suddenly, the Dark Ranger began to spasm, stumbling all over. Lights began shining out of his eyes and mouth like spotlights. Soon, lights began shooting out from all over his body. Rob screamed in pain as the lights got brighter, and wider, engulfing the Dark Ranger in it. A brilliant flash spread out through the whole park, and when the light disappeared, the Dark Ranger was no more.

"We did it!" Camp said excitedly as he and the other Rangers, including Luke, de-morphed. Happily, Camp tightly embraced Ann and swung her around merrily.

"Quit it, Camp!" Ann said playfully, and Camp abided. As they stood there holding each other, they shared their first kiss.

For the first time in a long while, Alex smiled a _real_ smile. He stared around silently, wishing he had someone to celebrate their victory with. Almost on cue, Camp and Ann hurried to Alex and ruffled his hair.

"You did good, kid," Camp complimented.

Sarah ran to Luke and swung her arms around his neck. They stared into each other's eyes for a few moments until Sarah suddenly broke into tears. She shoved her head into Luke's chest and he held her closer, trying to comfort her. "I thought I lost you…" Sarah said, squeezing onto Luke tighter and tighter.

"Are you kidding?" Luke held up Sarah's tear-covered head to face him. Grinning, Luke finished, "You'll never lose me. I'm like…godly."

Smiling at Luke's sarcasm, Sarah kissed him softly on the lips, and returned her kiss. The two lovers stood there in the park, kissing each other and wrapping their arms around each other.

Grinning softly, Jason watched the celebrations of the five new Power Rangers from afar, before suddenly being swarmed with feelings of guilt. Rob had a family. However, Jason knew that if Rob wasn't killed, the entire world would've been destroyed.

- - -

The Rangers returned to the Command Center, their hopes high and their spirits amazingly lifted.

Alpha 12 greeted them happily. "Good job, Rangers!"

"What about Rob's family?" Jason asked.

Shaking his large saucer-like head solemnly, Alpha replied, "There was nothing more that we could do. Rob Motnes had to be killed."

A moment of silence filled the Command Center, but this sentimental moment was interrupted when someone stumbled into the Command Center's front door.

Everyone turned around at once, extremely surprised to see none other than…

"_Goldar_!" Jason realized, his jaw dropping.

Goldar had reverted to his original state of golden armor, but he was still badly wounded. "Thank you, Rangers…" Goldar said, using on of the control consoles in the Command Center for support. The beast's eyes traveled around the room and surprisingly, he laughed. "The last time I was here, I was blowing it up with Rito!"

"Aiye, yai, yai, yai, yai!" Alpha said, rushing to Goldar's side. "I'll take you to the medical room. You should be up and ready in no time."

Goldar shook his head. "No time. The only thing I ask of in return of helping Jason escape from the Lunar Palace, is a transport vehicle so I can search for Scorpina."

"We don't have any kind of vehicle that we would be able to transport you," Alpha said solemnly.

Suddenly, another surprise walked through the Command Center's door…_Andros_!

Andros had on his signature cloak, underneath it his space uniform. His long blonde and brown hair was hanging idly down his back, and the hood to his cloak was down.

"Andros!" Jason announced, shocked.

"Andros?" Luke asked, puzzled.

Smiling, Andros shook all of the new Rangers' hands. "I am Andros. I am the Red Ranger from the planet KO-35." Suddenly, Andros's smiling expression became grave. "I have come to Earth to search for my missing son…I believe he is being kept here on Earth."

Alex gave Andros a thumbs-up. "We'll help you!"

Andros gave Alex a slight smile, but everyone could tell it was forced.

"So, you're going to be here for a while?" Goldar asked hopefully.

Andros nodded, suddenly realizing that Goldar was in the Command Center. Quickly, Andros took a fighting stance against the golden-armored beast.

Jason put his hand on Andros's shoulder. "He's on our side now."

Relieving his stance, Andros nodded. "Why?"

"Goldar needs your ship, Andros," Alpha explained. "I will install a tracking system on it so he can not steal it. Where are the other members of your Ranger team?"

"We've gone our separate ways. I stayed in touch with Ashley for-" Andros stopped himself, and then began again, "story for another time. Goldar may use the Astro Megaship if you install the tracking system."

Jason was shocked at Andros's unusual display of trust, especially towards a former enemy.

Andros shrugged. "I've learned to trust people."

- - -

After the Rangers and Alpha 12 (Andros's helper, Alpha 7 remained on the Megaship as Andros ordered) watched Goldar leave the planet, they all went back into the Command Center again.

"Jason," Alpha said, hurrying to a small console in the corner of the Command Center, "I would like you to take Luke's place as the Red Ranger."

Puzzled, Luke reminded Alpha, "The Tyrannosaurus Power Coin and morpher were destroyed, though."

After pressing a flurry of buttons, Alpha picked something off the console. He turned around, holding out the Tyrannosaurus Power Coin! "I made a copy of each Power Coin."

Grinning, Jason traded his Green Power Coin for his old Power Coin.

"Luke," Alpha said, turning to the first Light Ranger. "You are the first to experience a power like this. I trust you will use your new powers wisely, but remember: you are not invincible. There will be new threats that are even more powerful than you are. Do not get cocky."

Luke nodded at the fully-sentient multifunctional automaton.

- - -

Meanwhile, ArmorX and his master stared at the pile of sand that once was the great warrior Ecliptor.

His master waved his hands at the sand, reforming the warrior known as Ecliptor. However, this was a different Ecliptor. He was more powerful, and completely under his master's control.

This new Ecliptor asked in a monotonous voice, "What do you wish for me my master."

Laughing, ArmorX's master replied, "_I want you to kill the Power Rangers!_"


End file.
